A large and growing population of users accesses information via websites or downloaded client applications provided by respective service providers. Accessing this information “online”, rather than in person or over the phone, provides numerous benefits to both the service providers and the end users. For instance, the service providers are able to offer an array of information on their websites for access by end users at any time of day and without the cost associated with providing a human representative to help end users seek desired information. In many instances, this information may be of the type that a human representative of the service provider need not spend time relaying to customers, such as contact information of the service provider (e.g., physical location, phone number, etc.), hours in which the service provider is open, items (e.g., products, services, etc.) offered by the service provider, and the like.
While providing this type of information to end users in this manner is both convenient for users and saves costs for a service provider, the amount of available information can be overwhelming from both a management and an accessibility standpoint. For instance, a user may visit a website of a service provider to seek a particular piece of information or to make a particular request to the service provider. However, because of the massive amount of content and navigation paths offered by the website, the user may find that the desired information is akin to the proverbial needle in the haystack. As such, the user may get frustrated and cease working with the service provider or may call a human representative of the service provider for help, thus eliminating the cost savings associated with providing this information on the website.
To alleviate this problem, service providers may employ a “virtual assistant” to act as an interface between end users and the information on the service provider site. In some instances, this virtual assistant embodies a human representative of the service provider that is displayed on a website, client application, or the like of the service provider. The virtual assistant may also include an interface (e.g., a text box) that allows users to input queries, such as “where are you located?” or “when are you open?” In response to receiving such a query, the service provider or a third party utilizes natural language processing techniques to attempt to identify the contents of the user's query. After identifying these contents, the service provider or the third party identifies a response to provide to the user via the virtual assistant, such as “we are located at 555 N. 5th Street” or “we are open from 9 am to 7 pm today”.
Virtual assistants thus act as an effective interface that allows users to seek information they desire while still allowing service providers to realize cost savings associated with providing information online rather than via a human representative. While these virtual assistants are helpful to both end users and service providers, increasing the ability of these virtual assistants to emulate human representatives remains a priority.
Another trend concerns the expanding use of mobile devices, such as smart phones, portable digital assistants, and tablets, to offer a wide variety of functionality. Users are accustomed to using their mobile devices to make phone calls, send emails, surf the web, find entertainment or eating establishments, use as a GPS navigation unit in finding locations, and so on.
As users engage computing devices for an ever growing diversity of functions, there has been a growing need to improve the way users interact with the devices. Traditional techniques of keyboards and keypads are being replaced or supplemented by touch interfaces. Further, there is a growing desire to verbally interact with computing devices.
With these technology advances, however, user expectations increase. Being able to simply speak commands to a computing device was once impressive; today, this is commonplace and expected. Where users were once satisfied with one word commands or simple phrases, users are demanding better experiences with smarter devices that understand more.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for better ways to facilitate user interaction with a computing device, particularly in the mobile space where keyboard-based input is limited and voice interaction is increasing in popularity.